Danny MacAskill’s Wee Day Out

October 12, 2016 4:42 AM

To the tune of the Divine Comedy this time around.
posted by pharm (25 comments total)

that was great!
posted by james33 at 4:52 AM on October 12, 2016

Makes it look so effortless I'm glad they include the fails at the end.
posted by smackfu at 4:54 AM on October 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

Yeah, the cinematography is amazing. I mean Danny is also amazing, but the end result is magical.
posted by Literaryhero at 5:09 AM on October 12, 2016

I felt this one had a real sense of humour that was missing from previous outings. Particularly liked the pothole puddle stunt.
posted by pharm at 5:34 AM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

Yes, this contains at least three stunts that I've never seen him do before, and adds in a sense of fun and delight. Not to mention the beautiful countryside.
posted by Stark at 6:05 AM on October 12, 2016

Ha, I nearly posted this last night. It's great. I love the bloopers at the end, my kid loved the video but I liked having the opportunity to show that "everyone needs to practice!".
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:19 AM on October 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yeah the pothole puddle was obviously camera trickery, but it was still cool as hell, AND the leg power it must take to ride a fully submerged bike out of a puddle is mind blowing to me.
posted by Literaryhero at 6:20 AM on October 12, 2016

*sigh* I love Scotland. I mean, bike tricks are fine and everything, but Scotland.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:44 AM on October 12, 2016 [6 favorites]

Danny! I've told you before, stay off my slate roof!
posted by Bee'sWing at 6:53 AM on October 12, 2016

It does look so effortless until the blooper reel. Then I'm left wondering how he hasn't lost all his teeth to his handlebars.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 7:12 AM on October 12, 2016

Lovely! I think the real skill is falling well, so that you can survive the many, many failed attempts in order to be intact for that one perfect run. Serious question: Is the secret recipe to practice falling, intentionally, for a year or two first, before tackling things like stone walls and picnic tables?
posted by TreeRooster at 7:59 AM on October 12, 2016

I loved every thing about this, and will view it many times. Thankyou.
posted by kinnakeet at 8:12 AM on October 12, 2016

When the hay bale first started rolling, I thought "No way!". Then "Yes way!"
posted by Gorgik at 8:21 AM on October 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

Some of this was filmed super near me (in the Pentlands, the reservoir about two minutes in)! So weird seeing a path you know well in an internet video like this.

Danny Macaskill's videos always manage to make me homesick for Scotland, even while I'm already here. There's probably a German word for that feeling.
posted by Happy Dave at 8:25 AM on October 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

@TreeRooster You are right, falling well is a key skill. Ideally, you fall a lot, starting as a very young child. Learning some Judo along the way is pretty useful too. It's a little like Parkour in that learning how to slowly dissipate all of the energy without coming to an abrupt stop makes a big difference. For instance in snowboarding people try to catch themselves with their hands and then break their wrists instead of just tucking up their arms across their chest and rolling through it. But even then, with enough speed, sometimes the best thing to do it just think "Arms in!" and then wait for the world to stop.
posted by tumble at 8:26 AM on October 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

On a bike it's more like hang onto the handlebars until the bike is on the ground. If you watch the bloopers at the end he almost always holds onto the bars while crashing. Letting go of the bars and trying to catch yourself will quickly lead to a broken collarbone.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 8:34 AM on October 12, 2016

Loved it. This has to be the first one of these where he actually looked like he was having fun.
posted by photoslob at 8:42 AM on October 12, 2016

Nice homage to the niche mountain bike bog snorkelling.
posted by scruss at 9:53 AM on October 12, 2016

The man himself is taking questions: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/574cml/hi_im_danny_macaskill_and_i_ride_bikes_ama/
posted by mce at 10:19 AM on October 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

I feel like people have largely forgotten about the Divine Comedy, so I feel compelled to drop in here and give Neil Hannon and co some proper love. Admittedly they started slipping off my radar about the time of "National Express" - the trilogy of Liberation / Promenade / Casanova is where it's at for me - but it takes me back to my baby-faced, ork-pop-loving college days every time I hear him.
posted by mykescipark at 10:21 AM on October 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

He doesn't always walk away unhurt:

Since turning pro, he has been off his bike more than on, sidelined with a long list of injuries that include three broken collarbones, two broken feet, a torn meniscus, a torn disc in his back, and countless sprains, strains, and lacerations—almost all of them from bike accidents. “I think I’ve been hurt, or recovering, like two-thirds of the time since the first video,” he says.

posted by bgribble at 11:21 AM on October 12, 2016

That might explain why this video is a bit less heavy on the big drops and edges then.
posted by pharm at 12:28 PM on October 12, 2016

They all look impossible of course, but the one that blew me away with its understated difficulty was the log slide. Then I saw in that AMA that it took him about 300 attempts.
posted by markr at 2:57 PM on October 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

TreeRooster, that is my experience. I am in the circus, and I tend to pick up physical skills quickly, at least to a basic level - refinement always takes time. But it's not that I actually learn more quickly, I just fall. A lot. I learned to unicycle a few months ago - something I have been around a lot but never tried. Two of us decided to learn at about the same time. After a week, I was fairly competent, if not skilled, while my friend was still working next to a wall. They asked why it was so easy for me, and I asked how many times they had fallen. "A few." I'd fallen hundreds of times in that first week. I spent three solid hours on the first day basically just falling. As soon as I could do something without falling, like going in a straight line, I tried to add a new skill , like turning, and started falling again.
posted by Nothing at 9:32 AM on October 13, 2016 [4 favorites]

I saw Danny at an event at the Edinburgh Science Festival last year about the psychology of fear. I took a few interesting things from it:

1. he spends lots of time visualising the routes before he starts. That way when he gets going he knows what feels and looks right and what doesn't
2. music is really important to him. He lives in Glasgow and spends time out on his bike in the city trying new things (it's got a good reputation for this amongst trial bike riders). But the constant music playing helps him concentrate
3. as everyone else says above, it's about falling. Being comfortable falling, knowing it's going to happen, and also having confidence in it working.

I'm sure there was more, but that's what I remember. That, and how calm and settled he seemed.
posted by sarcas at 12:50 PM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]